All Things Paris

"Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you."

-Carlos Ruiz Zafn, 2013 (quotesgram.com)

 

Today is Friday, the 13th of May, but so far it hasn't been disastrous for me and mine. It's hard to believe that the month of May is halfway over, but with it's quick passing it means that teachers like myself will soon go on summer break. I'm looking forward to hanging out at a slower pace and spending more time with Nilla, our incredible beagle-mix who is almost 9 years old. Summer break also means, of course, more time for reading, so that in itself is reason to look forward to some time off. I do miss my E.S.L. students though, and I have been known to take a few of them on a "fun day" somewhere in the middle of the summer. We have visited the state zoo in Asheboro, NC, visited the local N.C. Museum of Life and Science, and gone to the movies. I always enjoy spoiling these kids even if it's just for one day. During the month of April I was unable to write a post due to my mom's health but I'm hoping to write consistently from now on. 

I am currently listening to a good book from the library called 44 Scotland Street. The author is Alexander McCall Smith, and when I began I immediately recognized one of the characters, Bertie, from another book by McCall Smith that I listened to a couple of years ago, Love Over Scotland. I'm enjoying the Scotland Street novel and the colorful characters who live in the same apartment building in Edinburgh, Scotland. I'll write more about this novel after I finish listening to it, but for now, let's go to the book that I finished most recently, Hidden in Paris, by Corine Gantz. I was pleased to receive a reply from Gantz after I sent her a note to tell her that I enjoyed her book. She was very gracious in her response and said she appreciated my note. I have written several letters to  authors in the past ten years, and many of them do respond, so I cherish this interaction. Without it, I think the authors and readers are BOTH in a bubble, not taking our relationships with the book to the next level. This sports metaphor does apply to the relationship between the author and a reader, meaning that if we reach out to each other with a personal note, we can get even more out of a book.

Hidden in Paris by Corine Gantz was published in 2011. I may have ordered it because it was one of those Amazon "suggestions".  It clearly goes along with the theme of the books that I've been reading, all things Paris or Europe. I've been reading both fiction and non-fiction lately. I guess right now I'm more of a non-fiction reader because I love to read books that teach me things such as history. For example, I loved Rutherfurd's book, Paris: The Novel, The Paris Wife by McLain,  The French House by Wallace, and We'll Always Have Paris by Coburn.  I learned so much about the history of Paris from these books, and I learned a lot about Hemingway as well. But I also enjoy novels such as Hidden in Paris, Paris Letters, A Paris Apartment, War Brides, and All the Light We Cannot See (set throughout Europe).

Hidden in Paris is a novel set in Paris. It's a book about the hardships of life, love, and relationships. The main character is Annie, an American woman living in Paris who must find the strength within herself to provide a living for herself and her children after her husband, Johnny, dies in a car accident. She had sort of lost her self-confidence while taking care of her family, but the money runs out and she must find a way to pay the bills. She decides to open her home as a sort of bed-and-breakfast and begins to get to know her boarders who come from all over. Lola and her two children flee the U.S. and settle in to the old, crumbling house that Annie calls home, and during this time she learns a lot about herself and her marriage. Althea and Jared also move in at different times as well, and they begin to have feelings for each other. At first Annie's children rebel against having to live with these "strangers," but in due time this mixed-up line-up of people seem to unite and form a different kind of family unit, a family that is not necessarily together through DNA, but a family unit in the sense that they support and encourage each other. While Annie is busy taking care of all of these people, her relationship with her friend, Lucas, begins to change and she begins to feel whole again. I think you'll enjoy this novel as a study of people with complicated relationships, people who desperately want to feel loved and appreciated. As the quote by Zafn above suggests, we all bring different things to a book, so you may not see it exactly as I did but I think you'll enjoy it. I doubt that any two people see a story line the exact same way because we bring different things to the table.  Gantz, the author,  spent the first 20 years of her life in France, so you will be exposed to beautiful places in Paris that are very well-known to her.

I'm not sure what I will read next, but the novel set in Scotland will continue to "air" in my car when I go places. Have a good weekend, and let me know your thoughts!

-Melissa Hill, Book Blogger
www.onegoodbookblog.blogspot.com